Loader bucket arm and pin repair on 350 loader

[Paul45]

Hello All
I removed the bucket and All the pins and and the arms are worn BAD. The bushings in the end of the arms i can replace

1 how do the bushings come out? can i pound them out and new ones in or do they need to be pressed out? does anyone have them cheap?

the link arm between the bucket and the tilt cyl. the pin holes are enlongated BAD about 1/4 " also the cycl. shaft attachment hole.

2 does anyone have any suggustions on how to repair?

The J plate with the two pins that attaches the link arm to the cycl. and the loader arm; the top pin looks like a crankshaft because it is worn so bad again about 1/4" this pin is weded in. also the bucket pins are worn also.

3 does anyone know if these pins are avaiable? are the pins hardened material?

I thought i could make new pins out of 11/2" round stock, but shoud they be hardened after they are made?

has anyone fixed the elongated pin hole problem? any suggestions would be appericated.

Thanks for your input paul

[KenP]

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[Paul45]

thanks for your reply Ken, I am going to try welding the enlongated holes using a 1 1/2" round copper piece, this will hopefully hold the round shape and save me some grinding and fileing. i figure it my not be perfect but it will be better than the way it is now.
As for the bushing in the loader arms, i may EDM some bushings out of steel or buy some oil impregnated bronze cored rod from MSC and machine it to what in need. or just make new pins and deal with the slop and save this repair for the winter months.
the bushings are in there tight, I tried tapping them out yesterday with no joy.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

[Farmerford]

Paul: I had exactly the same issues with a 455D. The boom ends were so worn that the prior abuser had hammered in 1 7/8" pins where 1 3/4" pins had been. Fortunately, the bushings were not completely worn through so the bosses were okay. I used replacement bushings from JD since they are hardened, but I used mild steel pins cut from cold rolled round stock, drilled for grease fittings. They do not get a lot of use, but they have held up fine for about two years. I have put maximum loads on the pins and there is no sign of bending, so if there is an issue with using mild steel it will be wear of the unhardened surface.

I also welded up the elongated holes in the links between the bucket cylinders ands the bucket. I used a hole saw to cut 1 3/4" holes in 2"x2" 1/8" plate and then tack welded the plate on each side of the hole in the link, using the new pins to line it up. The holes in the plates served as a guide for both the welding and the grinding and saved a lot of grinding time. Copper would have been better since the weld at each end would not have stuck, but I did not have much trouble grinding the plates off.

I would be interested in how you will hold the copper pipe in your links while you weld.

[Paul Buhler]

Just a thought based on some other experience - Can you epoxy your copper bushings in place rather than build with weld? The thickened epoxy (brass powder for less dielectric corrosion) has pretty good compressive strength, allows for alignment of the bushing and pins so that they are perpendicular to the arms, and if you need/decide to change this fix out, heat will break down the epoxy for easy removal. Check out System Three epoxy or West System epoxy web sites. The Goucheon Bros. have a free epoxy use manual which will describe how to mix and use epoxy for similar kinds of uses on boats.
Personally I think that copper is too soft, but a tight fit and good alignment should make things move better and smoother and maybe the wear will be acceptable.
Good luck and I'd like to know what you decide and how it works. Paul B.

[Paul45]

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I have took a few pics of the before and after my attemped to weld the holes round again.
I have a 11/2 copper round bar and used it to help keep the round shape as i filled the gap. worked well except it was hard to beat the round bar out of the holes. so i cut a small piece about 1" long and welded one hole at a time then knocked out the copper plug and fill welded any gaps.
the copper plug in the two pics has a lip on ity from beating it out one the first side of the link which held the copper plug in place when welding the others.
I now have to file, grind or machine out the inside and touch up any low spots to make it round.
i will attemp to weld the hdy. cyl. ends the same way.
KenP I found the loader arm bushins from Five Star for $35.00 each the bushings on my 350 seam to be one piece, might be a job changing them.
Also bought a 6' piece of 11/2 round stock to make new pins for $46.00 from a local steel supplier.
The old girl will be like new when i am done LOL i will update my progess if anyone is interested.

[KenP]

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[Paul45]

I finished my welding and grinding and it came out good, sorry i didn't take anymore pics. the hardest one was welding the hdy. cyl. ends, took alot of touching up and grinding but its alot better than before.
I use my abrasive wheel chop saw to cut the 1/12 round stock into 7 1/4" pieces for the new bucket pins. I will drill and tap holes for grease fitting tommorrow.
I was able to weld the welded in pins in the J plate that looked like a crankshaft back to a round looking pin LOL and it came out good, took some time to grind the pin round again, but was easier than machine new pins.
I pick up new loader arm bushings tommorrow if they come in.

over all I am happy with the fix, thinking i had about 8 hour labor and $150.00 into this repair.